USC Experts at American Diabetes Association Scientific Sessions

June 14, 2007

Childhood Diabetes:

• Michael Goran, Ph.D., is a frequently published expert in the area of adolescent obesity. Some of his recent studies looked at African American children, diabetes and obesity. Currently initiating a study on Latino children and obesity, he is looking at why some Latino kids develop type II diabetes in their teen years. Goran is professor of preventive medicine at the Keck School of Medicine of USC.

• Francine Kaufman M.D. was recently sworn in as president of the American Diabetes Association (ADA) and works with children and teenagers with diabetes. She also created the ‘Kids-N-Fitness’ program which has been shown to be effective in helping obese children maintain weight, learn ways to regulate appetite, exercise with their peers in a non-threatening atmosphere, and get feedback on eating and exercise behaviors that may often lead to weight gain. Kaufman is professor of pediatrics at the Keck School of Medicine of USC, and head of endocrinology at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles.

Adult Obesity/Diabetes:

• Anne Peters Harmel, M.D., previously directed the clinical diabetes programs at Cedars-Sinai and UCLA. Her research has focused on testing new approaches for diagnosing and treating diabetes and developing systems of care to improve outcomes in diabetic populations. She has published numerous articles and serves on the editorial board of several journals. Harmel is director of the USC Westside Center for Diabetes, director of the Comprehensive Diabetes Center at Roybal Community Medical Center and professor of medicine at the Keck School of Medicine of USC.

• Tom Buchanan, M.D., is a recognized world authority on diabetes prevention and investigates the causes of a mild form of diabetes that develops during pregnancy—gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM)—and the mechanisms that lead to type 2 diabetes in women who have had GDM. Buchanan pioneered a drug therapy that reduces this risk by 60 percent. It was the first successful type 2 diabetes prevention trial in the United States. Buchanan is professor of medicine, OB/GYN and physiology and biophysics, and director of the General Clinical Research Center (GCRC) at USC.